


Death Is Not Permanent

by HuiLian



Series: Halloween Content War [6]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, and bring them back anyway, because DC killed too much characters, death is not permanent in dc, or in any comic universe, really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 17:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12562372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HuiLian/pseuds/HuiLian
Summary: Death was not permanent in this family. Todd was proof of it. Father was proof of it. Damian himself, breathing when his lungs used to be silent, heart beating when it used to be still, was proof of it.So why was it permanent for Grayson?





	Death Is Not Permanent

**Author's Note:**

> For Halloween Content War. Day 6: Death.   
> Set in Grayson. Really, DC killed too much characters just to bring them back. And there's not much content with Steph& Damian, but their dynamics are amazing...

 

Death was not permanent in this family. Todd was proof of it. Father was proof of it. Damian himself, breathing when his lungs used to be silent, heart beating when it used to be still, was proof of it.

So why was it permanent for Grayson?

Damian knew Father has the means to bring him back. His father was friends with the most powerful beings on earth, and some from beyond it. Father could revive Grayson. Father could bring Grayson back to life. He has done so for Damian. It can be done. It has been done.

Or did his father exhaust all of his favors to bring _Damian_ back?

Did Father has to choose, which one of his sons he would bring back to live? Did Father chose Damian over Grayson, putting all of his resources to bring Damian back to live?

If Father did have the means to bring someone back from the dead, it should have been Grayson. Grayson was by far the better one. The better hero, the better son, the better person. But it was Damian whom Father chose. It was Damian, here and now, who was breathing.

Death was not permanent. Death was not permanent. So why was Grayson not here?

***

Damian would spend hours in front of Grayson's tomb. He would simply stand there and look at the tombstone. It was plain, etched with name, date of birth, and date of death.

That date of death was not supposed to be so close to the date of birth. Grayson was supposed to have a long life, safe and happy. The date of death was supposed to still be able to be changed.

It could still be changed. It could.

Drake was the one who found him, hours later. Damian didn't turn to face him. He kept looking at the tombstone. Grayson's tombstone.

"Damian."

Damian ignored Drake.

"Damian. It's late."

It didn't matter if it was late. Grayson was dead. His tombstone was here. Grayson was dead.

"Damian. He's not going to come back," Damian heard Drake's sigh. "You're not going to bring him back by looking at his tombstone. Let's go inside."

Damian didn't answer for a moment. Then he heard himself say," So how do I bring him back? How do I bring him back, Drake?"

"You can't, Damian. You need to accept that he's gone."

"No." Damian refused to believe that. Damian refused to accept that Grayson would leave him. Grayson had promised. He would not be gone. "There must be a way to bring him back."

"You can't, Damian."

"What if I can? Would the universe accept a trade?"

"A trade? Damian, what are you talking about?" Damian could hear a tinge of panic in Drake's voice.

"A soul trade. My life for his. Would the universe accept that?"

"Damian!" Drake immediately ran to him. "Don't start that line of thought!"

"Would the universe accept that, Drake? A soul for another? What did _you_ give for Father to return?" Damian asked.

Drake's mouth hanged open. He tried to speak for a few times, but no words came out. Eventually, he ended up with this," Let's get you inside, and we'll deal with this, okay? Let's just go inside."

Damian felt Drake's hands pull at his arms. He let Drake lead him away from the graveyard. He had no more fight to give.

Drake guided Damian to the Manor with surprising gentleness. Distantly, he noticed that Drake had his phone out and was texting someone. He could not find it inside him to care.

In seemingly no time, they reached the Manor. Drake opened the door, then ushered Damian in. Damian followed without protest.

Drake led Damian to the seating room, and placed him in a sofa. Drake sat himself in a chair across from Damian. "I know you don't particularly like me," Drake began, "but bear with me for a few minutes, okay? You cannot think of it that way, Damian. You cannot think that you can bring someone back by giving yourself. I did that. And it broke me. I don't want that to happen to you, okay?" Drake said gently.

Drake was never gentle with him. Civil, recently, but never gentle. He had always thought of Damian as an assassin, too dangerous to be considered kindness. For Drake to be gentle with him, Damian must have been in a really bad shape. Damian didn't care.

"Damian. Look at me"

Damian kept his gaze to the floor. Drake sighed and stood up. Damian thought that he would leave, leave Damian alone in his thoughts. But he didn't. He stood up and then crouched in front of Damian.

"I know it hurts. Believe me, I know. But you need to accept it, Damian. Dick is dead. That's the truth."

_Then_ Damian met Drake's eyes. "Death is not permanent," he challenged," at least not in this family."

"You can't think of it that way."

"Of course I can! Todd was dead. Father was dead. My grandfather has died countless of times! Yet here they are, alive. Death is not permanent. Not to us."

"Those were extraordinary circumstances, Damian." Drake took Damian's hand. Damian wanted to snatch it away, but it was calming. Soothing. So he let Drake have his way. "Most people who died didn't come back."

"I did! Your friend, Conner Kent, did. Flash did. Green Lantern did. Hell, even Green Arrow did. So why not him?"

"My parents died. They didn't come back. Bruce's parents died. They also didn't come back. Last year alone, there were hundreds of people in Gotham who died of a crime. They didn't come back. You can't choose who came back, Damian."

"Then who? Who decided who should come back and who should stay dead?"

Drake shook his head. "I don't know, Damian." His eyes were full of pity. Damian hated it. "No one does."

Damian could feel tears pricking in his eyes. He blinked them away. He would not cry. He would not. The only one who has seen Damian cry besides his mother was Grayson and Damian has no intention to add to that list. He wouldn't cry if it was not Grayson who comfort him.

Then silence. Damian didn't want to speak for fear of crying, and Drake seemed at lost for words, so they just stayed like that, Damian on the sofa and Drake crouched in front of him.

"Tim? Damian? What's going on?"

Brown. So she's the one Drake was texting when he dragged Damian into the Manor. Drake let out a relieved breath and stood up.

"Stay here, okay? I'm going to talk to Steph for a moment." Damian didn't respond. "Hey," Drake met his eyes," stay here, okay?" Drake asked again.

Slowly, Damian nodded his head. With a last look towards him, Drake went out of the room.

"... I found him.... ragged....Dick's tombstone...."

"...anyone else... how long...."

"... don't know... better with him... he doesn't..."

Damian could hear pieces of the conversation. He had no doubt that it was about him. Curiously, he didn't mind it so much. Then, the conversation ceased. He heard them walk back to the seating room.

Brown walked in like she always did, with a bounce in her step and a smile that could not be real. She made her way to Damian. Drake, as usual, lagged behind.

"Hi, Damian! How are you?" she asked in her usual chipper tone.

Damian stayed silent. Brown's smile faltered. She shared a look with Drake, and then she smiled again, more real and melancholic this time.

"Okay. You must be in a really bad place." She sat herself down in the sofa Damian was currently occupying. Drake, on the other hand, returned to his previous chair. "Normally you would already insult me, or at least call me Fat Girl."

Damian didn't respond. Again.

"Oh, honey. This must be hard for you." Brown scooted closer to Damian. "Dying, and then coming back to this mess."

"I shouldn't have come back." Words flowed out of Damian's mouth without him meaning to.

"What do you mean, Damian? Of course you should come back!" Brown said.

"I shouldn't have come back," Damian repeated. "Maybe if I hadn't come back, he would still be alive. Maybe whoever decided these things took him as payment for me coming back. I shouldn't have come back."

"No, Damian!" Brown put her hands on Damian's face. "That's not how it works, okay? He is not payment for you being alive. There is no payment for being alive!"

"How would you know?" Damian asked.

Brown chewed on her lips. She seemed to be considering exactly how she should answer Damian's answer. After a few moments, Brown said again, "I know because I've been where you are now, Damian."

"What?" Damian was confused. Brown has died before? How come he didn't know anything about it? He saw Drake stood up out of the corner of his eyes.

"Steph? Are you sure?" Drake asked.

"It's okay, Tim. I'm over it by now," Brown said.

"You've died before?" Damian couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah." Brown shrugged in a what-can-you-do- kind of way. "A few years ago. So I know what you're feeling now. Granted, I don't know how it feels like to have your guardian dead when you return, but I digress. He is not dead because you're alive, Damian. If that's how it works, then my mother would have been dead when I return." Brown stopped there and smiled. "She's not. She's alive and well. Living does not have a price."

"And even if it does," Drake joined in the conversation," if the price for you being alive was him dying, he would have paid it in a heartbeat. He loved you," Drake smiled wryly, "more than anyone else in the world."

"Tim," Brown's voice was full of warning.

"Sorry, sorry," Drake said sheepishly.

"Damian, it's not your fault he's dead, okay?" Brown repeated her words. "Living does not have a price. It's just bad luck and the fact that the world have it on to us."

"You know, Damian," Drake said," he would have chosen you. If it came to him or you, he would have chosen you."

"He should have chosen himself," Damian said.

"You know he wouldn't," Drake said again.

Damian sighed. Yes, he knew that Grayson wouldn't choose himself. He was an idiot that way.

"He loved you, Damian." Brown said. "He wouldn't have wanted you to throw this life away, so stop mourning his death and start celebrating his life. That's what he would have wanted."

"I'll try."

"That's all we ask, kiddo. That's all we ask."

**Author's Note:**

> check out my tumblr (huilian.tumblr.com)


End file.
